When I met my step-sons, they were 6 and 4 — old enough to be reasonably independent, attached at the hip, the best of best friends.

Now, Chile and Tripp are 9 and 7. And while they might fight a little bit more, and while their age difference might seem a little more pronounced, they’re still best friends. Still attached at the hip. Twenty-two months apart, a little unit travelling between their mom’s and dad’s houses. I think these boys will always share a special bond.

And indeed, among the heaps of unsolicited advice I’ve received as a new mom, one of the things I’ve gotten most since having my one-year-old son, Indiana, is: “You don’t want to wait too long before having your next one!” or, “He needs a playmate!”

And even though I’ve seen, up close and personal, what two siblings close in age can give to one another, I still couldn’t disagree more.

My husband and I aren’t sure if we’ll have another child. Ask me, and I’ll give you the same measured “probably some day” answer any day of the week. Ask my husband when he’s in a particularly good mood, when a newborn’s around or anytime we pass a family with daughters, and he’ll give an emphatic, “Hell yes, working on it tonight.” Other times, he’s less enthused. Neither of us is ready for the pregnancy/newborn roller-coaster again.

But one thing I’m sure about — barring an oopsie — is that if we have another child, it’s going to be a few years before it happens.

I’m enjoying working again too much. I’m enjoying Indy too much. I’m loving the groove our family is in. I don’t want to have two babies in diapers. And while Indy mostly sleeps through the night, lately, he sometimes doesn’t.

And I’ve seen, up close, that Indy is adored by his big brothers. That he’ll never want for a playmate. That they’ll never really fight, because he’ll always be so much younger and a novelty, and they’ll always be so much older and revered.

I love watching them teach him things. I love watching them nurture him and care for him. I love that they will remember him being born, rolling over for the first time, and taking his first steps. If I ever worried that Indy would miss out on the sibling experience with brothers six and eight years older than him, I certainly don’t now.

I acknowledge that choosing when to have children is a choice and a privilege. I’m a couple of weeks shy of 33, so I’ve got a few years. Women just a few years older than I am don’t have quite the same luxury.

I also acknowledge that not everyone “plans” their family.

I acknowledge that many women struggle to conceive and any child at any time is welcome.

And many parents just have one child. While siblings are wonderful, I don’t think they’re necessary. A loved child is a loved child, period.

There are two years between each of my siblings (older brother, older sister and me), and three years each between my husband and his sister and brother. The vast majority of our friends have families like these. The feeling, I guess, is that in some ways, being closer together makes things easier. Or you get the diaper stage over faster. Or it’s simply more practical to have children in similar life stages.

Just saying, though. If you want to wait longer between babes but are feeling pressure not to, maybe my story — or another one — can put your mind at ease.

My aunt got engaged when she was 18. After she and her late husband, Teddy, had been married a few years, they had their first daughter, Gena, when my aunt was 22. Initially, they set out to have just one kid.

“Before you know it, 10 years goes by, and I said, ‘Why did we say we were only going to have one kid again?” recalls Miles. “I think we should have some more. Gena needs a playmate now.”

They then had Rollie. By the time he was six, Gena was 16. They thought he could use a little playmate, too. So they had their third child, Sierra.

“I was able to have 10 years with just Gena, and then when I had Rollie, I had all that time for Rollie. And then when I had Sierra, I had Sierra all to myself because Rollie and Gena were in school. It felt like one kid, just three times.”

It also worked out perfectly, because Gena, 16 by the time Sierra was born, was a huge help.

Miles thinks her three children were actually better playmates than they would have been if they were closer together in age. She says Gena taught Rollie tons of things, and “she thought Sierra was hers.”

Her teenager would encourage mom and dad to go out so she could babysit.

“We’d come home and she’s out cold on the couch sleeping and she has Sierra in her arms, sleeping,” said Miles.

Seeing them together as siblings now, you’d never know that one was born in the 70s, one in the 80s and one in the 90s.

Their sibling bond is just as strong. I see that and am confident I’m making the right choice when I want to take a few years between Indy and our hypothetical, potential, future child.

Next week: I talk to moms who had their children one after the other — including one of my friends who had four kids under age 4 — and make the case for having them close together.